Brewer-Chaired Committee Sends Amended Voter ID Bill To Floor Debate

     A compromise version of a bill implementing the constitutional amendment passed by Nebraska voters in 2022 requiring a photo ID to vote is headed to floor debate over the vehement objections of its sponsor.

    The Legislature’s Government and Military Affairs Committee decided to back a months-long push by Chairman Tom Brewer of Gordon to “keep things simple,” choosing it 6-0 over the proposal from Senator Julie Slama of Peru. 

    Slama, the campaign face of the voter ID ballot drive, blasted the amended bill, calling it “unconstitutional” and an “abomination” because it lets people write down their own ID numbers on requests for ballots by mail.

She said it “makes our elections less secure and clearly violates the language of the successful Constitutional Amendment.” 

    She also attacked fellow conservative Republican and Secretary of State Bob Evnan, saying his office “obstructed this process every step of the way.”

     Evnan says Brewer asked him to come up with a proposal that implements the ID requirement while following state and federal law, including election case law, and sharply rejects Slama’s claim that it’s unconstitutional. 

     Evnan says it allows for a digital process to send in verification of a voter’s photo ID and codifies the current practice of checking citizenship at the time of voter registration, adding that Slama’s push for citizenship checks when voting risks violating federal law.

     Evnan also says Slama’s version appears to suppress the votes of rural voters and that he’s repeatedly said that he won’t support a bill that does that. He says he regrets Slama “is so upset,” but he thinks the committee took a better approach.

      Brewer defends the compromise, saying Slama wanted to “expand the scope of the mission while he wanted to do what the voters approved – a requirement to verify a voter’s identity. 

     His plan is also cheaper, costing about $1.8-million to implement while Slama’s would cost an estimated $23.6-million, mainly for equipment for local governments to produce state ID cards – a figure Slama disputes.